The present invention relates to an electrical card connector used for mobile communications, and particularly to an electrical card connector having a switch assembly for detecting full insertion of a smart card.
Electrical card connectors are popularly used in mobile communications for connecting electrical cards to printed circuit boards. Conventional electrical card connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,099,335, 6,0393,599, 6,086,426 and 6,132,229. Each of the conventional electrical card connectors has a dielectric housing receiving a plurality of terminals and has at least two cooperating switch contacts for detecting full insertion of an electrical card. The switch contacts are normal closed contacts, which are connected together initially before insertion of a card. The contacts are separated from each other (opened) in response to insertion of the electrical card, thereby achieving the function of detecting full insertion of the electrical card into the electrical card connector.
However, this design requires at least two switch contacts, which utilizes more components and has a higher cost. The larger number of switch contacts adds to the manufacturing process.
Hence, an improved electrical card connector is needed to overcome the above-mentioned deficiencies of current electrical card connectors.
Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an electrical card connector with a one-piece switch for detecting full insertion of an electrical card.
An electrical card connector in accordance with the present invention comprises a dielectric housing, a plurality of terminals mounted in the housing, a frame slidably engagable with the housing and adapted for supporting an electrical card therein, and a switch device for detecting full insertion of an electrical card. The housing comprises a block for retaining the switch device. The frame forms a push rod at a front end of a side thereof for actuating the switch device. The switch device has a switch mounting clip which attaches to the block of the housing and has a base for soldering to a solder pad on a printed circuit board (PCB). The switch device also has a spring switch lever having a curved upper contact portion and a curved lower contact portion extending from a lower side of the upper contact portion for electrically connecting with a gold finger on the PCB when the electrical card is fully inserted into the electrical card connector.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.